Contributions Towards The Materia Medica & Natural History of China. For the Use of Medical Missionaries & Native Medical Students -
Frederick Porter Smith
1871 - American Presbyterian Mission Press, Shanghai - First Edition
First edition of this scarce work, being one of first books on Chinese medicine by a western author.
With text in English and names and terms in Chinese. Dedicated to Robert Hart of the Chinese Maritime Customs
Smith was the first British medical missionary in China, sent by the Wesleyan Missionary Committee to Hankow in 1863, where he opened the first hospital in central China in 1864. His detailed catalogue of medicinal drugs and compounds was compiled through his close work and personal exchanges with practitioners of traditional China medicine, and was meant for for use by both Western physicians and Chinese medical students. Smith also credits the early Chinese medical works from which he drew his knowledge of herbs, and of native and imported drugs from throughout Asia. Smith ‘studied such works as the Pen Ts’ao [Bencao] and also used the works published by Europeans on the subject of Chiense botany. His compilation of a list of drugs used for medicinal purposes in China was primarily for the use of Western physicians in that country and native medical students. The wealth of material on plants and minerals was valuable to European scientists’ - Mason.
References: Cordier Bibliotheca Sinica 1477. Löwendahl, China Illustrata Nova 1410. Wellcome Catalogue 3402037. Mason, Western concepts of China and the Chinese 246.
Tall octavo (book size 25.1 x 17.1 cm) pp. vii [1] 237 [1]. Errata Leaf in page 237. In recent crimson buckram, spine lettered in gilt, pages trimmed but without affecting text, grey endpapers. Condition: Near fine, light foxing to first and last pages, slightly heavier to title page, in fine recent binding. Ref: 109259 Price: HK$ 9,000
With text in English and names and terms in Chinese. Dedicated to Robert Hart of the Chinese Maritime Customs
Smith was the first British medical missionary in China, sent by the Wesleyan Missionary Committee to Hankow in 1863, where he opened the first hospital in central China in 1864. His detailed catalogue of medicinal drugs and compounds was compiled through his close work and personal exchanges with practitioners of traditional China medicine, and was meant for for use by both Western physicians and Chinese medical students. Smith also credits the early Chinese medical works from which he drew his knowledge of herbs, and of native and imported drugs from throughout Asia. Smith ‘studied such works as the Pen Ts’ao [Bencao] and also used the works published by Europeans on the subject of Chiense botany. His compilation of a list of drugs used for medicinal purposes in China was primarily for the use of Western physicians in that country and native medical students. The wealth of material on plants and minerals was valuable to European scientists’ - Mason.
References: Cordier Bibliotheca Sinica 1477. Löwendahl, China Illustrata Nova 1410. Wellcome Catalogue 3402037. Mason, Western concepts of China and the Chinese 246.
Tall octavo (book size 25.1 x 17.1 cm) pp. vii [1] 237 [1]. Errata Leaf in page 237. In recent crimson buckram, spine lettered in gilt, pages trimmed but without affecting text, grey endpapers. Condition: Near fine, light foxing to first and last pages, slightly heavier to title page, in fine recent binding. Ref: 109259 Price: HK$ 9,000